4.13.2012

Indigo turns 5!

Indigo crawled out of bed on her birthday morning, stood tall and declared, "I'm five and I grew an inch taller last night!"

The three girls and I got ourselves ready, if a few minutes late, to spend the morning with Indigo at her preschool. She was crowned the birthday girl.

We brought a snack to share. She requested this banana bread - for her breakfast and her class snack. I s t r e t c h e d the school's no sugar policy by adding chocolate chips! (I did reduce the amount of sugar I added to make up for the addition.)

Indigo's not one to seek out being center of attention. We offered to throw a birthday party for her. She said she wanted a family-only party instead. I insisted that we'd be happy to invite some of her friends over for a party. She reiterated that what she really wanted was a family party. I was about to ask one last time, when I glimpsed myself in her - an introvert in extrovert's clothing. Like me, she prefers smaller groups to larger ones. I was reading about how in this culture we try to make everyone into extroverts. I want her to be exactly who she is. (And I'll confess - a family party is a lot easier for me!). A family party it is!

We conspired together on the cake. Of all the cakes I've made, this one was my favorite. We landed on this white cake recipe (made dairy free) with this super simple cake flour recipe. We put raspberry jam in the middle of the two cakes. This vegan chocolate icing went on next. Then we topped it with fresh raspberries.

We had to re-light the candles three times because Indigo and Evie kept blowing them out the moment we started singing.

I told Indigo I couldn't believe she was five already - she's growing up so fast. She said, "It's okay, mom! Sometimes I forget I'm 5. You can pretend I'm still four if you want!"

Indigo is our ray of sunshine, our mother hen. We are so very glad God gave us her exactly when He did. We love you, Ind!

Such a sweet post. Looks like the sweetest birthday. And a school that doesn't allow sugar? Sign us up!

I loved your thoughts on how our society wants to force children to be extroverts. This was a good reminder for me. I completely agree with my hole heart that we need to allow our children to be who they are intended to be.

Our Sophia is very quiet until she is comfortable. She hesitates with strangers and likes to hide behind my leg. Unfortunately, I SO OFTEN find myself trying to force her from behind me and sometimes get frustrated when she won't be social. Your post is a reminder to me to thoughtfully respect her personality. Thank you!!

Just noticed that you actually changed your URL/domain name. Would LOVE to do that. How did you do it, while still automticaly directing readers who might be linked to your old URL?

Rebecca,my husband changed my domain name and i think he had to buy it for a small fee, but it automatically directs traffic to the new name without me doing anything. here's how to change your domain name -

re: introverted kids. i took a meyers briggs test a couple months ago and was surprised when i scored as an introvert. i'd say most people would consider me an extrovert. but it was a light bulb moment for me. i finally realized *why* i would choose a night in sewing over a moms night out any day. or why i love talking with people one on one but hosting parties made me uncomfortable. and i realized how often i was pushed into being an extravert. it was liberating to finally have a label to hang on something i couldn't before describe. in a lot of ways, introverts are undervalued in this society. i hope i can raise my kids to be comfortable in their own skin. that's not always so easy...